Three Filipino women have been busted in Thailand’s seaside sin city, aka Pattaya, for allegedly raising funds for a non-existent children’s charity, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has said.
According to the DFA statement, released yesterday, the Philippines’ ambassador to Thailand Mary Jo B. Aragon said that her office in Bangkok has contacted Pattaya police so that the embassy’s representatives could visit the women as soon as possible.
The DFA said the trio were caught fundraising in front of a restaurant on Phettrakul in the Bang Lamung district for a charity called Children’s Joy Foundation.
However, in a report published by the Bangkok Post on Wednesday, chief of Pattaya police Apichai Krobphet is quoted as saying the charity does not exist.
The same publication also identified the three Filipinos arrested: Belinda Austria Toledo, 55; Jessica Bayutas Ortega, 50; and Ruthie Espina Babila, 38. All three allegedly entered Thailand as tourists and failed to show documents proving they were legally raising funds for a foundation.
Confiscated from the three were books in which reportedly recorded names of “donors,” a guitar, two boxes of printed leaflets, and THB5,690 (USD$179.51) in cash.
The women allegedly solicited funds by playing music with the guitar, and reportedly confessed they had been fundraising in different parts of Thailand for more than a year.
The women were charged with colluding to raise funds without permission and working without permits.
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